Japan's Minority Government Faces Crisis Over War Responsibility Statement

Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata faces a potentially disastrous encounter with Parliament this week after his Justice Minister, Shigeto Nagano, sparked international outrage by downplaying Japan's wartime atrocities. Hata's minority government is already on fragile ground, and the controversy is raising doubts about its ability to survive. As Hata prepares to make his inaugural policy address to Parliament on Tuesday, he will be under intense scrutiny to explain his party's stance on Japan's war responsibility.

Key Takeaways:

• Japan's new Justice Minister, Hiroshi Nakai, was appointed by Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata after the previous Justice Minister, Shigeto Nagano, made comments downplaying Japan's wartime atrocities.
• Nagano's comments caused a firestorm of criticism from China, Taiwan, and other countries conquered by Japan earlier this century, as well as from two leading Japanese newspapers, the Asahi and the Yomiuri.
• The controversy has made Hata's minority government even more vulnerable, particularly in the run-up to the Budget debate, and has set back moves to form a US-Asian joint policy towards North Korea's nuclear threat.
• The debate over Japan's war responsibility has also put Hata's aspirations for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council in jeopardy.
• Hata's predecessor, Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, had broken with decades of official fudging and whitewash, publicly proclaiming that Japan had fought a war of aggression against its neighbors in the 1930s and 1940s.
• Hosokawa's Foreign Minister, Tsutomu Hata, was tasked with taking the message of war responsibility to foreign capitals, but the new government's actions suggest a departure from this stance.

Statistics:

• 10 days: the duration of Hata's Cabinet before the controversy erupted over Nagano's comments.
• 27 April: the date on which Hata took over from previous Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa.
• 51: the age of new Justice Minister Hiroshi Nakai, who was just two years old when World War II ended.

Sources:

• Reuters
• Asahi Shimbun
• Yomiuri Shimbun
• Mainichi Shimbun